My MIL is 100 years old. She needed a wheel chair after a hospital stay, the PT ordered one and had it was shipped to my house with her name and my phone and address. Her daughter pays all her bills. I have given her the bill for this multiple times but it looks like she has not paid it. I am now getting debt collector calls, so far all have gone to VM as I don't pick up my cell is I don't recognize the number. What is the best way to handle this without giving them my SIL info? She may not have paid the bill, but I really don't want to sick the debt collectors on her either! Luckily, my MIL is 100 so not having stellar credit is no longer an issue for her.
Do I just call the debt collector back and let them know it's not my bill, that I am not the person they are looking for? Just not sure what to say to them.
@disdreamin wrote:I'm surprised that they can legally keep contacting someone who is not responsible for the debt they are trying to collect. Can't you do a cease and desist in this situation?
That is a good question...anyone?
As a former loss mitigator, aka debt collector, there's a simple solution. Tell them to stop calling and to remove your number. As I moved up in my position, one of my jobs was to skip trace a contact. If they refuse to answer or respond, I then pulled everything I could on them. That included friends, family, and neighbors. I would then contact them in order to get better contact info for the person that actually owns the debt. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. Once we were told to stop calling someone we would doc the account and take the number out of rotation. It wouldn't be deleted, but we wouldn't call since we didn't want to risk a lawsuit for harassment or fdcpa violations. Most collectors should stop. Unfortunately, if it's a really small, or zombie debt type of collector, they may not care because the chance of you finding and suing them is extremely small. But it doesn't hurt to answer once and put them on notice. At the minimum you'll find out what type of debt collector you're dealing with. Best way to do it is play along and get as much info about them as you can, so you can "have them call you back." Make sure it's explicitly clear that you're not involved in the debt. Then put them on notice to not call and you'll be tracking contacts to pursue legal action if needed.
@QCS123 wrote:
@disdreamin wrote:I'm surprised that they can legally keep contacting someone who is not responsible for the debt they are trying to collect. Can't you do a cease and desist in this situation?
That is a good question...anyone?
Why would it be illegal? It's no different than a sales cold call. Until you tell them otherwise, there's no law saying they can't call someone. Are they insinuating that you owe the debt? If they believe, or have proof that may be so, they have a legal right to continue calling you until you say otherwise. Like I stated in my previous answer, they're probably trying to get better contact info for your sil. You need to tell them to stop or they'll continue putting pressure on you to put pressure on your sil to make contact. There's nothing illegal about it, just annoying. And for me, that's what I was going for. Annoy them enough, they hound the debtor to call in to make their own calls stop.
Thanks all. My MIL name is on the bill. Her children sold her house and moved her into assisted living as 24hr caretakers were no longer an option. The bill is through the medical PT that visited her in the assisted living place, so Ill just give them that address to send the bill, which in the end will make it back to my SIL who pays those bills and ask them to cease all contact with me. Maybe that will get my SIL moving on paying that bill! It is less than $100, silly not to pay it!
